cvsceWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: c is a character, ce is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“c” is a character and “ce” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#324
“c” frequency rank
#8,352
“ce” frequency rank
8676
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature c ce
Definition Tercera letra del abecedario español y segunda consonante. Su nombre es ce. Nombre de la letra c.

Same sound, different letters: c vs ce

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 1 letter.

1 ch
c
2 ch
ce

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: c and ce carry the same recorded pronunciation, [ˈse]. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is acharacter, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “c” sits inside “ce”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8676, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

c is recorded at frequency rank #324, classified as acharacter, pronounced [ˈse]. ce is at rank #8,352, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈse].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 8676, this pair ranks #304,308 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of c vs ce

Shared letters: c. Private to "c": -. Private to "ce": e.

"c" · 1 letters · shape C  ·  "ce" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "c" and "ce" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "c" is a character and "ce" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "c" or "ce"?
"c" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #324 in our Spanish list, against #8,352 for "ce". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list